Stefan Rowecki

Stefan Rowecki (25 December 1895-2 August 1944) was the leader of the Polish Home Army resistance organization from 1942 to 1943, succeeding Michal Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski and preceding Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski.

Biography
Stefan Rowecki was born on 25 December 1895 in Piotrkow Trybunalski, Congress Poland, Russian Empire. Rowecki served in the Polish Legion of Austria-Hungary during World War I, and he joined the Polish Army after Poland gained independence in 1918. Rowecki fought in the Polish-Soviet War, but his regiment did not fight against Nazi Germany during the invasion of Poland. Rowecki organized resistance against the Axis during the early 1940s, and he commanded the underground Home Army from 1942 to 1943. On 30 June 1943, the Gestapo arrested him after some of his fellow resistance members betrayed him, and he was executed in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on 2 August 1944 on the orders of Heinrich Himmler after refusing to take part in an anti-Bolshevik alliance with Germany.